


Interpersonal Hygiene (The Get Fresh Flow Mix)

by victoria_p (musesfool)



Category: Life (TV)
Genre: F/M, Remix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-11
Updated: 2014-05-11
Packaged: 2018-01-24 06:56:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1595741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musesfool/pseuds/victoria_p
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This time when Crews ends up in the shower with Dani, it's by her own choice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Interpersonal Hygiene (The Get Fresh Flow Mix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amathela](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amathela/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Interpersonal Hygiene](https://archiveofourown.org/works/542167) by [amathela](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amathela/pseuds/amathela). 



> Thanks to z. for helping out!

Dani would say she hasn't noticed how often Crews ends up in the shower with her, but since she's a damn fine detective with a good eye for patterns, that would be a lie. 

The first time, she was too freaked out to care; she just needed to get the stuff off her skin, away from her face, and he was conveniently there and able to help her with it. He even lent her a shirt when she was done and clean. (Afterwards, when she plays the scene back over again in her mind, she doesn't think about how easily he lifted her into the tub, the solid warm strength of him behind her, the way a partner should be.) 

"We don't ever have to talk about it," he'd said, and they never did. She hadn't known him then; certainly, she hadn't trusted him, but he'd had her back when she needed him, and then he'd shut up about it, and those were two big points in his favor even when he annoyed her with his endless zen jabber. (She's not sure when it stopped annoying her and just became part of Crews's, well, she wouldn't necessarily call it charm, but it's part of him and she doesn't really want it to change, even though sometimes he still drives her up a wall with his chatter.)

The second time, he'd followed her into the locker room, but he'd also broken open the case they were working on, so she didn't stay angry at him for long. She doesn't think he'd meant anything by it, or she'd have torn him a new one. But he doesn't look at her like that. She knows what it's like to be looked at like she's nothing more than a pair of tits and a twat, a convenient hole for some douchebag to stick his dick into, and while she's seen Crews admire any number of women (and seen the way they admire him right back), his admiration for her always seems to be rooted in who she is, not what she looks like. It makes it easier to trust him than she expected. And the more she trusts him, the warmer his admiration grows.

The decontamination shower was nobody's idea of a good time (and the department still hasn't reimbursed her for her dry cleaning bill), but still, for partners who don't even flirt, let alone fuck, they've ended up in their underwear together a lot.

And it'd be easy enough to write it off as a side effect of partnership. Most of the cops she knows are more married to the job and their partners than they are to their spouses, and sex almost never enters the equation.

Still, it's not long after the first time she really seriously considers Crews like that, his white shirt soaked through and sticking to his chest after the suspect they were pursuing turned a garden hose on them, that she agrees to meet Tidwell for dinner.

Tidwell is a cop, through and through, so he gets her damage the way most people don't, which means this could be the best decision she's ever made. But he's also her boss, which means their relationship could be another mistake she's made to sabotage herself for all the reasons she doesn't like to think about.

Still, Tidwell's understanding starts to feel stifling after a while. She doesn't think he's doing it to score points, but there's something performative about it, like he's keeping score and winning something. Like he wants to be rewarded. Which isn't fair to him at all, but it's a feeling she can't shake. And maybe that's just her unerring instinct for ruining relationships before they can ruin her, but she can't help how she feels, just what she does about it.

The breakup is quiet. There's no yelling or throwing things, which she maybe expected from Tidwell, though maybe she shouldn't have. He's still treating her with kid gloves, since it's only been a couple of weeks since Nevikov kidnapped her. Everyone's treating her like she's fragile, like she's going to break again. Everyone but Crews.

He watches her with that warm admiration in his eyes, and he brings extra fruit for her every day (not oranges, though, nothing that reminds her of that afternoon in the orange groves), but he doesn't treat her any differently. 

She doesn't sleep well and she doesn't want to give in to the urge to drink until she passes out, so she tosses and turns, sweating through her t-shirt even with the air conditioning on. She always falls asleep at some point, though, because she wakes up, sweaty and cotton-mouthed, with her alarm blaring. Except for this morning, where she rolls over to see the clock blinking 12:00 12:00 12:00 at the time she's usually strolling into the office. 

She scrambles into the bathroom but the water is a muddy brown before it stops running altogether, and she wonders if she slept through an earthquake. There's nothing about it on the news, though, so after she brushes her teeth and washes her face with a bottle of water from the fridge, she dresses and heads out the door. There's a note taped to the mailboxes in the vestibule: Dear tenants, we are having emergency work done on the pipes. There will be no water from 8 am to 4 pm. We apologize for the inconvenience. She grimaces, twists her hair back up into a bun and slips on her sunglasses. She can shower at work.

Except she gets to work and is immediately pulled onto a case, a guy found dead in a swimming pool at the Standard Hotel. There's the usual suspects to question, and she huffs in exasperation at the way most of them blatantly lie with every answer. Crews takes one look at her and says, "Why don't you talk to SID? I'll handle the interviews."

She pushes a stray lock of hair behind her ear, bites back another annoyed sigh, and does what he suggests. It's only marginally less frustrating, but at least she doesn't have to pretend to be polite.

It's a long day, and all she wants is to see the end of it in her shower, and some quality time with her vibrator.

"Can you give me a ride?" Crews asks when their shift is finally over. "My car was stolen."

Dani laughs. She can't help it. "You spent all that money, and you just left the doors unlocked?"

"I did not." Crews shrinks a little in the passenger seat. "I don't think I did." Dani raises an eyebrow. "I probably did." Crews sighs. "I was not attached to that car."

"Uh huh." 

"I wasn't." Crews talks about the car for most of the ride and Dani lets it wash over her, familiar and comforting and completely not requiring her input. The background noise lets the best bad idea she's ever had bloom in her brain. 

She pulls into his driveway and turns the car off. "I need a shower," she says. "The water in my building is off. Emergency repairs," she continues when he gives her a surprised look.

"Okay." The house is surprisingly empty. "Ted's in Spain," he replies to the questioning look she shoots him. "And Rachel is somewhere safe." He reaches into the fruit bowl on the counter and picks up a pomegranate. He uses his butterfly knife to peel it, his fingers long and sure and stained pink by the juice when he offers her the seeds.

She doesn't hesitate--she's not Persephone and he's no Hades--and she holds his gaze while she eats them, tart and sweet on her tongue. His gaze drops to her mouth and heat twists low in her belly. Maybe her best bad idea is actually her best good one.

"The bathroom's up the stairs and on the right."

Dani licks her lips and smiles. "Why don't you show me?"

He sets the fruit down on the counter, grins in response, and takes her hand to lead her up the stairs.

end


End file.
